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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28411707">Footprints on a winter road</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dunloth/pseuds/Dunloth'>Dunloth</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mushishi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Discord: Kakashi Lounge, Gen, Gift Exchange</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 17:33:44</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>807</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28411707</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dunloth/pseuds/Dunloth</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>An ordinary day on Ginko's travels.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Footprints on a winter road</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsiYepYep/gifts">AsiYepYep</a>.</li>


        <li>
            A translation of

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28394247">Huellas en invierno</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dunloth/pseuds/Dunloth">Dunloth</a>.
        </li>

    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is the translation of a gift fic written for Asiri in the Doodles For Drabbles exchange in the Kakashi Lounge on Discord, inspired by their wonderful Mushi-Shi art.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The woods on these hills are calm. The animals here have started to get ready for winter; tree leaves fall silently, painting the road in red and yellow hues, muffling the sound of Ginko's steps. He's been walking all day long.</p><p><em>Good thing the weather hasn't changed yet,</em> he thinks. Fall stretches into winter, the first snows haven't arrived yet.</p><p>If things go well, Ginko will get to his destination in a couple of days. He's heading for a village where a family asked for his help because their child stopped understanding words, though his hearing is right for other sounds. Ginko thinks he knows what happened to the kid, but he wants to confirm it. There's a kind of mushi that can do that, only to little children. If Ginko is right with this, he knows of an easy solution that won't harm the child nor the mushi—Ginko's favorite kind of remedy.  </p><p>As the day goes on, the sky gets more and more cloudy. Ginko remembers there's an abandoned hut two hills ahead—he's taken shelter there on his past travels. It's a shabby building, but still a better option than spending the fall night in the open, especially if it's going to rain. Ginko picks up the pace to get there before dark.</p><p><em>No, it's not going to rain—it's going to snow.</em> Ginko feels it in his bones, in the air quality, and in the mushi that flutter around him, curious about him and excited about the winter that's finally coming.</p><p>Ginko likes winter too, though he shouldn't, because bad weather is troublesome for his travels. Yet Ginko is fond of those days when snow blocks the roads and forces him to stay in a village for longer than he'd planned. The silence in the forests, the glassy beauty of the ice in the ponds, in the icicles decorating the houses and trees, the delusive softness of the snow... Ginko enjoys all of them, and he enjoys too the chance to watch and study the mushi that only appear when temperatures are sub-zero. Those are the days when he writes the most annotations in his field notebooks.</p><p>Ginko gets to the hut just as the first snow flakes start falling. By the time he's cleaned up a bit and lighted a fire, a thin white layer covers the world.</p><p>The hut has a decent fireplace, and two pots that can be used after washing them well. Ginko gets out of his backpack a bag filled with roots, a couple of potatoes and carrots, and some vegetables he's been picking up on the road. He's glad he'll have a nice hot dinner—and a better one than the previous nights on the road.</p><p>Ginko cooks while it gets dark outside and the snow keeps falling. Some mushi have been attracted by the heat of the hearth—little gleaming dots and threads, close to the ceiling, dancing to their world's unfathomed music. These mushi are harmless, Ginko knows them well. On quiet nights like this, Ginko distracts himself watching them, studying their movements, hoping to learn something new about them.</p><p>After the nice meal, Ginko smokes, enjoying the warmth of the hearth and his full belly.</p><p>On nights like this, Ginko doesn't feel lonely. His lifestyle gives him a lot of free time to think, to let his mind wander on strange paths. It's no surprise that sometimes he thinks about how his life would be if he was... Normal. </p><p><em>Normal,</em> he thinks, amused. <em>No one's normal anyway.</em> Everyone has their stories, their secrets, their silences. Some of those stories are more shocking than the stories of the weirdest mushi. </p><p>It's not that Ginko feels lonely. It's not that he wants to share his life with other people. Putting aside his <em>little problem</em> with the mushi that prevents him from settling down in a place, he's not quite sure at this point if he would be able to live a family life.</p><p>He doesn't travel just because he's forced to. Ginko has an inkling that if he had to stay in one place he would end up feeling locked up, and withering. He enjoys too much learning new things, new places, new mushi—and there are people who need his help. There are too few mushi-shi left.</p><p>As the snow falls outside, Ginko sleeps without dreaming. The mushi in the hut get down closer to him without touching, spinning around him like a silent guard.</p><p>Next morning it doesn't snow. Ginko packs his few things, puts on his thicker coat, and leaves the hut. The snow crunches under his feet—he loves that sound. The beauty of the woods in winter makes it worth the hardships of the road.</p><p>Ginko disappears down the path, downhill. His footsteps on the snow fade after a few hours.</p><p> </p>
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